This is the first authorised issue of the broadcast of Fidelio
given at the commemorative opening of the Large House of the
Staatstheater, Dresden on 22 September 1948. The complete performance
did not survive in its entirety. What we have here are the extant
sections of original radio broadcast: some seventy minutes of
music.

Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio is almost always
described as a stirring ode to freedom; the triumph of good
over evil. Whilst probably not featuring in many lists of ten
best loved operas it is a staple of the opera houses of the
world and remains much admired. I have noticed that two or three
popular extracts are frequently featured in Recorded Music Society
programmes.

Fidelio is considered to be highly problematic. Beethoven
scholar George Alexander Fischer in his work ‘Beethoven,
A Character Study Together With Wagner’s Indebtedness
To Beethoven’ (1905) provided the following viewpoint,
“Musically, it is a work of surpassing beauty; but
there is a dissonance between music and libretto which gives
the impression of something lacking; there is not the harmony
which we expect in a work of this kind. Wagner has taught us
better on these points. The music of Fidelio has force and grandeur;
some of it has a sensuous beauty that reminds us of Mozart at
his best. Had Beethoven's choice fallen to a better libretto,
the result might have been an altogether better opera.”
Eminent music writer David Ewen in ‘The Complete Book
of Classical Music’(Robert Hale, London, 1965)
explains that “None of Beethoven’s scores cost
him as much effort and grief, both in conception and production.
Beethoven was essentially an instrumental composer. He
found it difficult to adjust his musical thinking to the requirements
of the stage.”

Emanuel Schikaneder, the manager of the Theatre-an-der-Wien,
Vienna in 1803 commissioned Beethoven to write an opera. It
was in 1804 when Beethoven found the time to start work. The
German libretto is the Josef Sonnleithner and Friedrich Treitschke
adaptation of the text from Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s Léonore,
ou l’amour conjugal. Beethoven laboured hard on the
score right up to its production in November 1805. Beethoven
had described Fidelio as, “a child of sorrow”
claiming that it had caused him, “more birth pains
than any other.”

The opera was first produced in a three act version under the
title Leonore in Vienna’s Theater-an-der-Wien in
November 1805. Owing to the military occupation of Vienna by
Napoleon’s forces it was not surprising that the first
audiences were disappointing in number. Following the première
Beethoven revised the opera shortening it into two acts also
writing a new overture, which is now known as Leonore Overture
No. 3. In this revised form it was first performed in March
and April 1806 to greater acclaim. In 1814 he revised the opera
once again and work on the libretto was undertaken by Georg
Friedrich Treitschke. This version was first performed in Vienna’s
Kärtnertor Theater in May 1814 under the title Fidelio.
Beethoven was never satisfied with the opera’s overture
and it ended up going through four versions. The Leonore
No. 3 is considered by many to be the finest overture. For
the opera’s revival in 1814 Beethoven wrote the shorter
Fidelio overture which Joseph Keilberth uses on this
Hänssler Profil release.

Originally built in 1841 by architect Gottfried Semper the Semper
Opera House burned down in 1869. The rebuilt house was designed
by Manfred Semper and opened in 1878. It became the home of
the Dresden State Opera but was destroyed on Friday 13 February
1945 by Allied bombers. Within a few days all of Dresden’s
theatres were reduced to ruins. A tremendous effort from hundreds
of Dresden residents cleared away countless tons of rubble.
From December 1945 Dresden City Council was given the responsibility
of drawing up plans to construct a new state theatre with Emil
Leibold appointed as architect.

On 22 September 1948 the newly built Dresden Staatstheater was
opened as the Großes Haus des Staatstheater; following
the rebuilding of the Semperoper in 1985, the Großes
Haus des Staatstheater was renamed as the Schauspielhaus.
To celebrate the opening of the Staatstheater Fidelio
was staged in a production by stage manager and director Heinz
Arnold. Joseph Keilberth conducted the Chor der Staatsoper,
Sinfoniechor Dresden, Chor der Staatlichen Akademie für
Musik und Theater with the Staatskapelle Dresden. The production
was broadcast live by the Dresden radio station Mitteldeutscher
Rundfunk. However, not all of the archive tape of the radio
transmission has survived as it seems that the tape was cut
up by radio editors to play individual scenes and arias. Some
of the missing material, most notably the overture, was found
and put back together. Unfortunately this recording on Hänssler’s
Profil does not include the famous Prisoners’ Chorus ‘O
Welche Lust!; Marzelline’s aria, O wär ich
schon mit dir vereint and Leonora’s aria Abscheulicher,
wo eilst du hin.

In a most impressive account Keilberth assembled a cast of performers
high on commitment and understanding. The orchestral playing
is first class throughout with an especially exciting rendition
of the chosen Fidelio overture. Prisoner Don Florestan
is played by Bernd Aldenhoff a native of the city of Duisburg.
Aldenhoff is robust and assured in the role. As Leonore Florestan’s
wife the Dortmund soprano Christel Goltz excels with her bright
and attractive girlish tones. Dresden-born soprano Elfriede
Trötschel takes the role as Marzelline, Rocco’s daughter,
with considerable assurance. Trötschel’s resilient
and fluid voice makes a nice contrast to Leonore. As Don Pizarro
the governor of state prison, Darmstadt baritone Josef Herrmann
displays a dramatically expressive voice. With clear diction
and robust projection Herrmann convincingly reveals Pizarro’s
threatening character to chilling effect. Salzburg-born Heinrich
Pflanzl, as the minister Don Fernando is a rich and rock-steady
bass.

The celebrated quartet of Rocco, Jaquino, Marzelline and Leonore
“Mir ist so wunderbar” is one of the most
remarkable ensemble numbers in the opera. Taken at a relaxed
pace the performance from the quartet is deeply affecting. In
the first of his two solo arias Bernd Aldenhoff as Florestan
chained to the wall of his cell performs a gloom-ridden soliloquy
about his sad fate with “Gott! Welch Dunkel hier.”
In the second aria, Florestan, lamenting his fate recalls happier
times with his beloved Leonore “In des Lebens Fruhlingstagen.”
Aldenhoff is a striking and imposing Florestan and right from
his opening words “Gott! (Oh God!) Aldenhoff
convincingly communicates the pathos and inner torment of the
role.

Leonore and Florestan sing with joy at their reunion “O
namenlose Freude!” The heroes Aldenhoff and Goltz
are in fine voice. With impressive presence their unforced manner
enables them convincingly to convey their euphoria. Sadly the
prisoners’ chorus “O Welche Lust!”
is not included. However, I enjoyed the chorus of prisoners
and townsfolk in the town square hailing the Minister “Heil
sei dem Tag!” Coached by chorus master Ernst Hintze
the Chor der Staatsoper, Sinfoniechor Dresden and Chor der Staatlichen
Akademie für Musik und Theater deserve considerable praise
for their satisfying and secure contribution.

For those looking for recommendable accounts of the complete
Fidelio there are two classic versions. Firstly from
Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded at the
1950 Salzburg Festival with Julius Patzak and Kirsten Flagstad
on EMI mono 7 64496-2. Secondly from Klemperer and the Philharmonia,
recorded at the 1962 Kingsway Hall with John Vickers and Christa
Ludwig on EMI ‘Great Recordings of the Century’
5 67364-2. Of the modern digital accounts I admire the dramatic
and exciting 1999 Berlin performance from Daniel Barenboim with
the Chor der Staatsoper Dresden, Sinfoniechor Dresden, Chor
der Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater and the
Berlin Staatskapelle on Warner Classics 3984 25249-2. The stars
are Plácido Domingo as Don Florestan and Waltraud Meier
as Leonore with Soile Isokoski, Werner Güra and René
Pape in the supporting roles. As a bonus Barenboim includes
all four overtures on the set.

Accompanying this Hänssler Profil set is a one hundred
and eighty page booklet. Remarkable for its large number of
photographs and copious information this is complete with an
English translation. Disappointingly no libretto is provided.
Included in the box is a fifty-four minute documentary DVD titled
“Mir ist so wunderbar!”- Das Gross Haus.
Narrated in German I wasn’t able to find any English subtitles.
I found the flimsy cardboard sleeve far too light for the substantial
contents.

Defying its sixty-six years the sound quality of Keilberth’s
Fidelio is certainly remarkable for its age. As good
as Keilberth’s performance is, why would anyone want a
version of Fidelio with several of the most famous highlights
missing?

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